Wooster, Ohio – Powered by second-year Matthew Ruttkay's dominant 7.2 inning scoreless performance in game one, the Oberlin College baseball team split their North Coast Athletic Conference matchup with the Wooster Fighting Scots, prevailing 5–0 in game one before falling 12–6 in game two.
Ruttkay, the right-hander from Northbrook, Illinois, was masterful in his best start of the season. He spun 7.2 innings of scoreless ball, only allowing five hits and racking up six strikeouts.
"I went out there throwing all my pitches [with] high intent and gave it my all," Ruttkay said. "I knew I could trust my stuff when I threw every pitch hard in the zone."
Powering through 117 pitches, this was Ruttkay's longest outing of the season.
"To be able to go deep in the game, I worked ahead in counts and mixed all my pitches for strikes," Ruttkay said. "I was able to keep hitters off balance and trust my defense."
In the top of the third, fourth-year catcher Anton Shelton led off with a lined double into the right-center gap. Two batters later, first-year center fielder Patrick Leonard ripped a triple over the center fielder's head, scoring Shelton to give the Yeomen staff all the cushion they would need.
In the top of the sixth, Shelton came through again. With the bases loaded, he laced a line drive through the left side to plate another run and make it a 2–0 game. The next batter, first-year third baseman Robbie Lynn, blopped a single down the left field line to put the Yeomen up 3–0.
In the following inning, Leonard led off with a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from third-year right fielder Brady Groves. The next batter, third-year first baseman Kyle Baxt, rocketed a single into the right-center gap to score Leonard and push the lead to four.
The Yeomen added their final insurance run of the game in the top of the eighth when second-year middle infielder Ryan Robinson hit a towering triple into the left-center gap, scoring Lynn from first base.
Robinson had two hits in game one and registered his first extra-base hit of the season.
In relief of Ruttkay, first-year left-hander Shane McKenna recorded the final four outs. The Brooklyn, New York native struck out two and walked one in his scoreless outing.
Game one was the Yeomen's first shutout of the season.
In game two, the Yeomen handed the ball to first-year right-hander Jameson Bryant. In his first start since taking home NCAC Pitcher of the Week honors for his seven-inning, nine-strikeout performance against Hamilton College in the RussMatt Invitational, the Cape Elizabeth, Maine native tossed three innings, giving up three runs (one earned) and striking out one.
The Fighting Scots jumped out to an early 3–0 lead after two innings and did not turn back from there. Oberlin's defense was not clean in game two; the Yeomen committed five errors after only accounting for one in game one.
Oberlin got two back in the top of the third thanks to poor Wooster defense, but the Fighting Scots responded with six runs in the bottom of the fourth to put the game out of reach.
In the top of the seventh, Shelton hit the first home run of his life – little league, high school, and college – to cut into Wooster's lead, but the comeback effort fell short, as the Yeomen dropped game two.
The offense had ten hits in game two. Groves and Lynn both recorded multi-hit games.
With the split, the Yeomen are now 13-9-1, 2-2 in the NCAC. The Fighting Scots moved to 18-9, 3-3 in the NCAC.
The Yeomen are back in action tomorrow when they take on Washington and Jefferson on the road in a non-conference matchup. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
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